Lifting the Day: A Lockdown Exhibition

245 days of life under lockdown in Kenya through the dazzling artwork of prolific expressionist painter Mary Collis. 

On the first day of Kenya’s COVID-19 lockdown, Mary Collis decided to post a painting to her Facebook page, suggesting she would “lift the day” during the impending two-week lockdown. She was still posting daily 245 days later. Her Facebook lockdown exhibition soon became a daily source of inspiration and sanity for Collis and her followers. Lifting the Day collects Collis’s exhibition in book form, presenting 245 illustrations alongside art and words about life under lockdown in Kenya and beyond.

Mary Collis is one of the leading artists in Africa. She founded the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art in Nairobi, which operated for ten years and helped bring Kenya’s art scene to its present-day esteem.